Grottaferrata: Villa Carafa-Acquaviva (Grazioli), site plan with a project for the construction of a new kitchen wing and the enlargement of the stables, c. 1580–1612
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Dimensionsh x w: 45,5 x 57,2 cm uppklistrat på underlagspapper och utskjutande bit i nedre vänstra hörnet
Inventory numberNMH CC 561
AcqusitionDonated 1941 by Eric Langenskiöld. Formerly in the Cronstedt collection, Fullerö
Other titlesTitle (sv): Villa Grazioli (Acquaviva-Montalto), Frascati. Plan av byggnader och trädgård Title (en): Grottaferrata: Villa Carafa-Acquaviva (Grazioli), site plan with a project for the construction of a new kitchen wing and the enlargement of the stables, c. 1580–1612 Previous: Villa Grazioli (Acquaviva-Montalto), Frascati. Overall plan with buildings and gardens
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Bortolozzi, Italian Architectural Drawings from the Cronstedt Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2020 (cat.no. 157) Workshop of Martino Longhi the Elder (1534–91) with emendations possibly in the hand of Carlo Maderno (1556–1629) Pen and brown ink over black chalk, black chalk, light brown, green and violet wash, straightedge, compass and freehand, 45.5/44.2 × 56.3/57.2 cm NM H CC 561 PAPER: a flap has been added at bottom left. There are three vertical and three horizontal folds and a repair on the right edge. The drawing has been laid down overall on to a mounting sheet of French writing paper of the late 17th century. WATERMARK: Letter 9 WATERMARK OF THE SECONDARY SUPPORT: Chaplet 10 INSCRIPTIONS: vignia Pastine, vignia, fonte, vignia arboreto, giardino segreto, fonte, ringhera, fonte, giardino segreto, fonte, giardino segreto (up side, from left to right, in pen and light brown ink, referring to the gardens behind the villa); stanza, gallaria, stanza, stanza, sala, stanza, camera, camera, loggia a tereno, cappella, camera, camera, scaletta (up centre, inside the plan of the villa); andito che va alla cucina, scala a cordone che monta, piazza scoperta in faccia al palazzo, scaletta segreta che monta, scala et salita che monta, fonte in faccia al palazzo, piazza largha in faccia al palazzo, vignia, vignia (centre, referring to the site in front of the villa); La cucina sarà la spesa ducati 750 (at left edge, in another hand); Locho per la nova cucina, soffiator, fonte (left side, referring to the kitchen); vignia, piazza in faccia alle stalle, stanza del vignia[iuo]lo, stalla, stalla, stalla (lower left); various measurements in pen and brown ink and in black chalk MEASUREMENTS: Roman palmi; vertical scale on the lower left edge with 10 units [canne] = 8.9 cm PROVENANCE: Carl Johan Cronstedt and descendants; Eric Langenskiöld; gift to the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm 1941 BIBLIOGRAPHY: Langenskiöld, Moselius 1942, 71, Cat. no. 337; Hibbard 1958, 357, n. 16; Tantillo Mignosi 1980, 143, fig. 5; Vesey 1996, 118 and fig. 8; Lerza 2002, 174–175 e fig. 267 EXHIBITED: Langenskiöld, Moselius 1942, 71, Cat. no. 337 Cardinal Antonio Carafa built this villa on the hills of Frascati between 1578 and 1580. Vanessa Vesey (Vesey 1996) has attributed the building to Martino Longhi the Elder, who in the same period worked for the cardinal in the Church of S. Maria in Via Lata. Gianluigi Lerza in his monograph on Martino Longhi accepts the attribution (Lerza 2002, 174–175). The northern façade towards Rome was three storeys high, while the southern facade towards the Tuscolo was articulated by an open loggia with five arcades and a terrace flanked by two protruding lateral wings. The core of the villa was a large rectangular room (sala) covered by a coved vault and connected with the entrance loggia and with a gallery (galleria) on the inside. A turret with arcaded windows, altana, overlooked the construction. The villa was built on a high terrace designed at the back of the villa in three formal parterres, inscribed in the drawing as giardino segreto (secret garden) and on the front in an open courtyard with a fountain in the centre. On either side of the courtyard two flights of stairs led to the lower fields of the estate. On the left of the villa’s façade, the drawing shows a passage leading to an independent building washed in violet, with an emendation towards north sketched in black chalk. The building inscribed as locho per la nova cucina (site for the new kitchen) appears as an addition to the original overall project of the villa, washed in yellow. Similarly, in the lower left corner of the drawing a flap glued to the sheet shows an enlargement of the stables, washed in violet. Following the death of its first owner, Cardinal Carafa, in 1591, the villa was purchased by Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva who, in 1606, let it to the Borghese family. Vesey (Vesey 1996, 118) proposes that the additions drawn in black chalk belong to this phase. Hibbard (Hibbard 1958, 357) suggests instead that they might been conceived after 1612, when the estate was handed over first to Cardinal Taverna and then to Cardinal Alessandro Montalto, who commissioned a series of paintings in the casino and the monti fountain in front of the villa, visible in Mattheus Greuter's bird’s eye view of Frascati engraved in 1620 (Fig. 1). In the engraving, the first rectangular building on the right of the villa corresponds to the new kitchen, embellished on the side of the courtyard by a fountain (in the drawing inscribed as ‘fonte’) with a statue. The building behind the kitchen is no doubt the one labelled in the drawing as stables, but the point of view of Greuter’s engraving does not give account for the construction of the extension. In this phase, an attribution of the additions to Carlo Maderno seems most likely. In the 18th century a gallery and an additional third storey were built above the loggia on the garden front of the villa. LITERATURE: Franck 1956; Tantillo Mignosi 1980, 141–162; Vesey 1996; Lerza 2002, 174–175 OTHER DRAWINGS: Anon. late 16th-century draughtsman, Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Carte Strozziane, Serie CCXXXIII, c. 137, plan of the “Villa hoggi dell’Ill.mo Card. Acquaviva”. Prints: M. Greuter, Frascati, 1620; J. Blaev, Frascati, 1632 [end]
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